Friday Racing Tips from Andy Holding

A race that should be dominated by the big two Southern raiders, SHEARER (best price 4-1) and City Chief, but with the bookmakers clearly keen to stress there’s quite a bit between the pair looking at their early morning quotes, the former should be backed to prove their viewpoints are totally incorrect. 
Highly-regarded enough to run in the Champion Bumper won by Sir Gerhard last season, the son of Flemensfirth must have disappointed connections that he couldn’t win at the first time of asking over hurdles at Wincanton and even though he ran well enough on his next two starts against a better standard of opponent, winless after three starts was still frustrating, to say the least. However, with cheekpieces added for the first time at Newbury last time out, Paul Nicholls’ gelding showed more of his true worth and in a driving finish with Stringtoyourbow, he pulled out the extra close home to gain an overdue success. Although it seemed harder than anticipated, the numbers from the race suggested he’d run to a much higher standard than at first feared and with that success likely to provide him with the injection of confidence needed, the six-year-old is fancied to improve again now facing three miles for the first time. 

IRISH HILL (NAP) (best price 11-8) made the extremely well-treated Punctuation pull out all the stops over today’s C&D last time out and with that race easily working out the best on the speed figures compared to the rest of the card – including the one involving Black Poppy and Straw Fan Jack – Paul Nicholls’ gelding is strongly fancied to press home the theory he’s a good bit better than his current assessment. 

Disappointing when tried in first-time cheekpieces at Ascot back in January, the headgear was left off at Newbury last time out and for a large proportion of that strongly-run two-mile handicap, he looked like justifying the decision. Sweeping to the front three out at the Berkshire venue, the son of Kingston Hill appeared to have the strongly-fancied favourite in big trouble and it was only in the dying strides that his concession of a huge physical difference to his main market rival became apparent. Well clear of the rest and with the time figure suggesting it was an extremely strong race of its kind, the juvenile has a clear chance of compensation on his return visit.

AURORA THUNDER (best price 11-2) probably doesn’t have the sexy profile of many of her counterparts in this staying handicap, but on the flip side, she does like it here at Ayr and she is also guaranteed to see out the trip, so on that basis, she comes across as the pick of the prices of the early morning quotes. 
Since finishing 5th of 12 in a maiden hurdle here back in 2019, Lucinda Russell’s gelding has form figures at the Scottish venue that reads 12212 and with the latest of those performances coming when she was runner-up in this race last season, it’s logical to believe this has been the plan ever since. Other than pulling up on a filthy day weather-wise at Aintree back in November, the daughter of Malinas has been inconsistent form during the rest of the campaign and her latest effort at Kelso was on par with some of her previous best displays. Although beaten 15 lengths at the Borders venue, both Famous Bridge and Kaizer were trapping along at a fair old pace for the grade and it came as no surprise to see the runner-up that day go on to prove the value of the form back at the same track last weekend. Returning to her optimum trip with ground suit, the eight-year-old easily represents the best value on offer in what appears a wide-open contest. 

STRINGTOYOURBOW (best price 7-2) hadn’t really cut much ice until going handicapping for the first time at Newbury last time out, but a much-improved display strongly suggested a mark of 95 was on the lenient side and even though he’s been justifiably bumped up as a result of his sterling effort, Christian Williams’ gelding can still prove he’s ahead of the assessor. 

Sent off 33-1 at the Berkshire venue and up against many who had shown a good deal more promise in their previous starts, connections would have probably been happy if the son of Getaway was at least a little more competitive than he had been before, but as it turned out, he almost pulled off a huge shock. Travelling up well approaching two out, the five-year-old quickened up well with his more strongly-fancied rival and the pair proceeded to have a ding-dong dual all the line to the line. Only going down by the shortest of margins, this lightly-raced type came out of the contest with nothing but praise and then when you consider the time figure he ended up posting, his performance went up a further couple of notches. Not only was the race in question five seconds quicker than the novice hurdle won by the 138-rated Gelino Bello over the same C&D, the final circuit time was also superior to the tune of two seconds, which makes the opener on the card a good deal more upgradable. Just to add further evidence that the contest is reliable regards solid form, the well-beaten seventh, Neon Moon, went and landed a competitive handicap at Fontwell earlier this week and with the distinct likelihood that Stringtoyourbow will improve for a step up to three miles, the Welsh raider can make the long journey up North a rewarding one.